Investment growth had been expected to hold at 5.3 percent in the first nine months of the year, matching a record low growth rate in January-August.

Private sector fixed-asset investment rose 8.7 percent in January-September, compared with an increase of 8.7 percent in the first eight months, according to official data.

Private investment accounts for about 60 percent of overall investment in China.

Retail sales rose 9.2 percent in September from a year earlier. Analysts had expected retail sales to rise 9.0 percent, unchanged from the growth rate in August.

Beijing and Washington have slapped tit-for-tat tariffs on each other in recent months and plans for bilateral trade talks to resolve the dispute have stalled, triggering a domestic market rout and putting pressure on China’s already softening economy and weakening currency.